Boys in Skirts

Writers: Devin, Eimi
Date Posted: 12th August 2018

Characters: T'lin, T'nep
Description: T'lin helps T'nep keep an open mind
Location: Dolphin Cove Weyr
Date: month 5, day 2 of Turn 9

T'lin

Thankfully there were only classes this morning, no drills, so T'lin
decided to wear a skirt. It was long and flowing, and he liked the way
it swished around his legs.

T'nep certainly wasn't late, but he was in a hurry to get to the
classroom before too many weyrlings beat him to it. He didn't want to
get stuck in the front again. The teacher always seemed to look
straight at him, so he couldn't doze off or doodle, or even talk to
the people around him if he was in front! Perhaps he didn't need to
run, but it felt good to stretch his legs a bit, but he misjudged the
size of his body yet again, and as he hurried passed a girl in a long
flowing skirt, he hit her with his shoulder rather hard. "Sorry
miss!" he said, barely turning his head to look at her. But catching
the features of the face out of the corner of his eye, T'nep stopped
dead in his tracks. "T'lin?"

"I must be extra pretty today," the bluerider said with a smile. "I
should wear this more often."

The young weyrling looked T'lin up and down. "What are you doing?"

"I'm going to class, same as you." He tried to make his face neutral,
but the smile still tugged at his lips.

T'nep was still trying to wrap his head around this image of a strong
adult male in a skirt. "But... You're dressed like a girl."

"Girl clothes, boy clothes ... why make everything so restrictive? I
like to wear skirts sometimes." T'lin lifted the fabric and swished it
around his legs. "They're comfortable." He had conversations like this
whenever there was a new influx of Candidates so he was used to the
varying reactions of Hold and Hall folk.

"But boy's don't wear those," T'nep said, his Hold upbringing warring
with the reality in front of his eyes. "Those are made for girls.
We're built different from them. Those are for people with girl
parts."

"I assure you, this one was made just for me," T'lin said. At least
T'nep seemed more confused than anything and the boy wasn't hurling
insults.

"So... You're like one of those greenriders who wants to be a girl?
But you're a bluerider?" T'nep had at least seen greenrider men who
seemed to like to pretend they were girls. But those were
greenriders, and so as far as he could understand it, they were like
girls but with boy parts. And girls didn't ride blue.

"Oh no. I'm perfectly happy being a man, I just like skirts
sometimes." T'lin chuckled. "Living in a Weyr is going to expand your
mind in so many ways."

"Uh...." T'nep could think of nothing to say. It just didn't seem
right! He got that male greenriders liked other boys. And blueriders
liked both girls and boys usually, though some preferred one over the
other. Blueriders were different than greenriders because they were
more like normal men. But apparently T'lin wasn't! Maybe blueriders
were more like greenriders than he realized. Or maybe just this
particular one was. "It's all really confusing," he finally said with
a shake of his head. Just when he thought he was understanding how
these things worked.

"It's just that people are more complex than you thought. And here we
have more freedom to do what we like." T'lin swished his skirt
lightly. "Think of it like this, you don't assume someone's favorite
food or favorite color when you first meet them, do you?"

"No, I guess not," T'nep replied warily, wondering where the older
weyrling was going with this.

"Then you also can't assume things like who they might want to kiss,
or what clothes they like to wear. Just because someone is a boy or a
girl, that doesn't really tell you anything about them."

"Well, it doesn't here, that's for sure. It did in the Hold." It
seemed like a lot of the rules were different here. Things T'nep had
learned were just true turns out not to be in the Weyr. Like men
always loving women and women only loving men. And people loving only
one person
at a time. Or who can wear a skirt, apparently!

"I bet you knew people in the the Hold that were like me, but we have
to hide it there." T'lin had been lucky enough to have a family that
didn't try to make him something he wasn't, but Hold culture would
still have limited his life.

Now that was a thought that would fester. "But if you have to hide
it, what's the point of doing it? I wouldn't hide wearing my favorite
tunic, I'd just wear a different one."

T'lin snorted. "I meant hide who we are."

"So wearing girls clothes is just who you are." T'nep wasn't sure
that clothes were such a strong expression of his personality. He
just wore what was comfortable and didn't have too many stains on it.
And yet apparently T'lin's relationship with clothes was somehow
important to him in a way the young weyrling didn't understand. But
there were a lot of things in the Weyr he didn't understand. They
just were. "Ok. Well, I guess that's just how it is."

"I know this is all very different for you and I hope you'll
understand better in time," T'lin said. Many people who moved to the
Weyr did, though there were a few who stubbornly held on to their
closed minds.

"Yeah, maybe," T'nep said with a slow nod as his brain was still
processing this new information. It was certainly something new to
think about.

"Just ... try to keep an open mind." T'lin flashed him a smile before
heading into class.

Last updated on the August 26th 2018

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Boys in Skirts